But Christopher would not be eased. “I know you,” he said. “I know what you are capable of, now with two of my children to do your bidding. Do you think this makes me happy?”
“You do my bidding.”
“But I have been doing this kind of work for thirty years!” Christopher boomed. “My children have not! You are calling upon them to do the work of seasoned men who have been doing this kind of thing all of their lives. Neither Peter nor Christin have that kind of experience.”
William was calm in the face of an irate parent. “You give your children no credit at all, do you?” he said. “Peter is a great knight and Christin is great in her own right. But I will admit that I am concerned with a romance between Sherry and Christin. I have watched Maxton and Kress and Achilles succumb to women and it has dampened their devotion to me. Not intentionally, but because their focus is on their wives and families. They acknowledge that and we all accept it, and still they answer my summons when they can. But for two of my active agents to be engaging in a love affair is dangerous for all concerned.”
“It is dangerous, anyway,” Christopher said unhappily.
William held up a finger to emphasize a point. “It is dangerous because emotion is involved now,” he said. “I need Sherry focused on his duties and I need Christin focused on hers – I do not need the added burden of them being focused on each other as well. Emotion can cause mistakes and poor judgment.”
Christopher could see that the man was leading to something. “What do you intend to do?”
“Speak with Sherry, at the very least,” William said. “Chris, I will say one thing to you about this situation and then I will say no more. You raised intelligent children who can think and act for themselves. Now, when they are doing so and have found something they have a passion for, the same thing you have a passion for, you are considering shaming at least one of them by taking her back to Lioncross. How do you think such an action is going to affect your relationship with your daughter, who has acted autonomously as an agent for two years? She is going to resent you. She may even run away from you and continue doing what she was born to do. Would you really treat your daughter like a foolish child when you have raised her to be a fine, strong adult? At some point, your children have to lead their own lives. They want to be a tribute to the de Lohr name. Let them.”
With that, he set his cup down and quit the tent, leaving Christopher and David in tense silence. Christopher found his chair again, rubbing his forehead as the stress of the situation settled.
“Christ, David,” he muttered. “Is he right about this?”
David shrugged. “He sees the situation from a different perspective,” he said. “You see it from a parent’s point of view.”
Christopher looked at him, his features twisting with disbelief. “Has Cissy really been a spy for two years and we did not suspect?”
David snorted, but it was an ironic gesture. “I think we started to back at Ramsbury,” he said. “But hearing William’s confirmation… that is shocking.”
“Without a doubt. That means he recruited her when she had seen sixteen years.”
“What do you intend to do?”
Christopher leaned back in the chair. “I do not know,” he said honestly. “I am not thrilled with any of this, but William has a point – I raised my children to be strong and fearless, and when they are, it frightens me.”
David could see the turmoil in his brother’s face. “I think the first thing I would do is speak with Christin,” he said. “Tell her you know that she serves The Marshal. Mayhap you can gain perspective on how she really feels about it.”
Christopher nodded. “I suppose,” he said. “She’s my little girl, my firstborn with Dustin. I cannot think of her as anything else.”
David smiled ironically. “I know who can.”
“Who?”
“Sherry.”
Christopher put his hands over his face. “You had to remind me.”
David’s smile turned genuine. “William has a meeting with his men in a few minutes,” he said. “Let us be part of it. You cannot fight this, Chris. As difficult as it is for me to say this, I think William makes sense. Your children are a tribute to you – let them be.”
Perhaps he was right. Christopher wasn’t sure yet. But one thing was for certain – he had a situation with Christin and Alexander, and Marshal or no Marshal, he was going to deal with it as a father would.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
He hadn’t been able to leave John for hours.
Sean was usually composed and collected in all situations, but the fact that John had kept him close for the past several hours and he’d not been able to break away to warn Christin or Alexander about the king’s intentions had him edgy. More and more guests were arriving for the celebration, but John had restricted himself to his chambers, watching everything from his perch high above.
For several hours, he watched the incoming banners, identifying each one, pointing them out to Sean, who was preoccupied with the fact that Gerard had been gone for some time. He knew Gerard and how the man worked, and to say he was underhanded and sly didn’t begin to cover it. Gerard was as dirty as they came and it greatly concerned Sean that the man was now in charge of taking Christin north to Robert FitzRoy.
In fact, the whole situation had him concerned, but not as concerned as John was when he saw the de Lohr standards raised in the encampment village below. Then, the man realized Christopher de Lohr had, indeed, come for his celebration and that drove John into a rage fairly early on. If the man was present at Norwich, then undoubtedly, he would be in the company of his daughter most of the time. That made their task far more difficult and John was furious about it.
Already, the situation was not going as planned.
“Did you hear me, Sean?”
Sean had been lost to his own thoughts and the question came from the king. He’d been staring from the window but not really seeing or hearing, so he quickly shook his head.
“Alas, I did not, your grace,” he said. “My apologies. I was thinking of the best route to Bishop’s Lynn for de Lohr’s daughter. We want to ensure she makes it to your son before de Lohr can get to her and, as you have noted, the man is here.”
John came away from the window he was looking out of. “My dear Sean,” he said. “Always planning ahead. The fact that Christopher is at Norwich is unexpected, but I suppose in hindsight, I should have guessed. He and de Winter are allies.”
“Technically, he is your ally, too, your grace.”
John lifted his shoulders. “We have never been allies,” he said. “Mayhap he has fought for me, but he’s never truly been my ally.”
“It will be even less so if you take his daughter,” Sean said quietly. “Since he is here at Norwich, will you not reconsider speaking to him about a betrothal? It will go much better for you if you do. It might even heal any rifts, perceived or otherwise. But if you simply take the man’s daughter, it will irrevocably damage any chance of creating a solid ally out of de Lohr.”
John nodded his head as if he were truly thinking about the suggestion. “I know,” he said. “You have told me that before and I’ve had others tell me, also.”